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New Testament Survey: Luke thru John

CCEA School of Discipleship

September 15, 2024

I’d love it if each week each of you would make and wear a namebadge (for us slow learners), and also sign in with your initials on the sign-in sheet.

From Homework

Five minutes to share: What did you get from the assigned reading in Halley’s Bible Handbook?

(ask for hands, maybe break into groups)

Introduction

Last week we learned the term “synoptic”.

The first three gospels are called “synoptic” because they “look” similar. They cover much of the same material.

Mark

Last week we didn’t get as far in class as I intended so let me say a few brief words about the gospel of Mark for those of you who may not have seen the video.

Mark was the cousin to Paul’s traveling companion Barnabas.

He is sometimes referred to as “John Mark”, and you will catch glimpses of him through the book of Acts.

He starts out as an undependable missionary, but by the end of his life, Paul considered him “useful” for ministry.

It’s likely that Mark was the earliest gospel written, perhaps somewhere between AD 56-63.

Mark was in Rome at the time, and spending lots of time with the apostle Peter.

We believe the gospel of Mark is pretty much the story of Jesus through the eyes of Peter.

Next time you read Mark, pay attention to the times that Simon Peter is mentioned and you will have a new appreciation not only for Jesus, but Peter as well.

An “odd” tidbit about Mark – just about every verse starts with the Greek word “kai” (the most common conjunction, “and”), 1,091 times. You may not see that reflected in your English translations, but it’s there.

I remember a teacher in seminary saying that this gave us an idea that Mark may not have been the smoothest of writers when it came to the Greek language. Or else he flunked his high school English classes.

Memory Verse

One of my favorite sections in Mark covers Mark 9-10.

In Mark 9:33-37, the disciples are arguing over which of them was the “greatest”.

Jesus replies, that if you want to be “first”, you need to be last of all and servant of all (Mark 9:35)

(Mark 9:35 NKJV) And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

For those of you in Children’s Ministry, there’s a great lesson that ties being a “servant” with “receiving” a “child”.

Apparently the disciples are as “thick headed” as we are. They didn’t “get” the lesson.

So in chapter 10, we find James and John’s mom asking for their sons to the top dogs in the kingdom.

After a bit of a rebuke, Jesus says, (and here’s two great verses to memorize)

(Mark 10:44–45 NKJV) —44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Lesson

Maturity is serving

What does a “mature” Christian look like?

They look like a servant.

It’s not necessarily the guy or gal up front speaking.

It’s not necessarily the ministry leader.

Maturity looks like being a servant. That’s what Jesus demonstrated to us.

Luke

Background

Luke was a close friend of Paul and travelled often with Paul.

He is the only Gentile to write a portion of the New Testament. The rest of the New Testament was written by Jewish believers.

Date written – around 60 AD

He was a doctor by profession. You can see his medical eye in his writing.

He tells us some of how he put the book together:

(Luke 1:1–4 NASB 2020) —1 Since many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3 it seemed fitting to me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in an orderly sequence, most excellent Theophilus; 4 so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

Luke did his research.

He gathered material from “eyewitnesses”

Because of the details given about the conception and birth of Jesus, we think one of those “eyewitnesses” was probably Mary.

He writes the book for “most excellent Theophilus”.

Doctors were often slaves of wealthy people, and some suggest Theophilus was Luke’s “owner”.

“Theophilus” means “God lover”, and it’s possible that Luke simply wrote for all those who love God.

Luke is also the author of the book of Acts, and we will talk more of this next week.

You can see where Luke actually joins Paul if you look closely. Through the first fifteen chapters of Acts, Luke describes all the action as “they did this … they did that”. It changes when you get to Acts 16.

(Acts 16:8–10 NASB 2020) — and passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and pleading with him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 When he had seen the vision, we immediately sought to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

It's at this point that Luke joins Paul and Silas as they head to Macedonia.

It is no longer “they did this or that” but “WE did this or that”.

He may have been the only believer present when Paul was put to death. (2Tim. 4:11)

(2 Timothy 4:11a NKJV) Only Luke is with me…

Uniqueness of the book:

Each “synoptic” gospel looks a lot like the others, but they are all unique as well.

Luke’s gospel has a slant towards Gentiles, taking time to explain Jewish customs.

As a doctor, he displays interest in medical matters

(4:38; 7:15; 8:55; 14:2; 18:15; 22:50)

Luke gives the most detail to the events surrounding Jesus’ birth.

There are some favorite parables and stories unique to Luke, including –

The good Samaritan (10:29-37)

The prodigal son (15:11-32)

Zacchaeus (19:1-10)

The thief on the cross (23:39-43)

There is a special emphasis on prayer throughout the book (3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28-29; 10:21; 11:1; 22:39-46; 23:34, 46)

Luke records four songs – Mary’s song (1:46-55), Zacharias’ song (1:67-79), the angels’ song (“Gloria in Excelsis”, 2:14), Simeon’s song (2:29-32).

Memory Verse

It’s very hard to pick just one, but here’s one of mine:

(Luke 11:13 NASB 2020) So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

In context, Jesus is talking about prayer and He shares the “ask and it shall be given…” teaching that He has in the other gospels.

But Luke adds that the Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who keep asking, seeking, and knocking.

There is no better gift than the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Same story, different story

Don’t get too stressed when you begin to see that some of the specific events in Jesus’ ministry are a told a little different or are in a different place in each gospel’s chronology.

I’m not sure that all the authors are concerned about dates and order (though perhaps Luke is)

You can see the general outline of Jesus’ ministry in a “Harmony of the Gospels” – Halley has one such in his book (pg.562)

Can you find this in your copy of Halley’s?

I have also learned that Jesus may have taught the same thing at various times throughout His ministry.

The content of the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matt. 5-7; Luke 6, Luke 11) appears in different settings.

Look at the “Lord’s Prayer”

Matthew has it as part of the Sermon on the Mount (Mat. 6:9-13)

Luke has it as Jesus answering the disciples’ questions about prayer (Luke 11).

In more than one place we read,

(Luke 4:15 NASB 2020) And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

It doesn’t always tell us what He was teaching in each synagogue.

I think it’s possible that some of His material was the same from synagogue to synagogue. There were no audio recordings that could be shared on tapes, CDs, or podcasts…so perhaps He repeated Himself.

There was something we skipped in class, though it was on the video, that I would like to make sure we’ve covered.

In Matthew 22:34-40, Jesus has an encounter with a Pharisaic lawyer, who asks Jesus the question, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

As you know, Jesus responded by saying the greatest commandment was to love God, and the second greatest was to love your neighbor.

Luke records a similar conversation between Jesus and a “lawyer”, earlier in Jesus’ ministry, but this conversation goes a little differently.

A “lawyer” or a “Torah teacher” was an expert in Torah, the first five books of the Bible.

(Luke 10:25–29 NASB 2020) —25 And behold, a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” 27 And he answered, “you shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” 29 But wanting to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

This is where Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan.

I used to think that Jesus was giving some new brilliant statement saying that love sums up the Ten Commandments, until I found out about the rabbinical schools in Jesus’ day.

The Pharisee rabbis were divided into two groups which followed after two different Pharisee teachers.

You could tell which group a rabbi was associated with by asking them, “What is the greatest commandment?”

The Jews had 613 commandments in the Law of Moses. Sometimes these laws came into conflict with one another. The Jews understood that there was this built in tension – so they worked at developing a hierarchy of laws – which law was more important than another if they should come into conflict.

If you come across your neighbor’s donkey that had fallen into a pit on Shabbath (the Sabbath), what do you do?

Do you keep the law of returning your neighbor’s stray donkey to him (Ex. 23:4)?

Do you keep the Sabbath and do nothing because that would be work (Ex. 20:10)?

(Exodus 23:4 NKJV) “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.

(Exodus 20:10 NKJV) but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

The Pharisees were divided into two groups – the house of “Hillel” and the house of “Shammai”. You will see hints of this in the TV series The Chosen.

Hillel was a scholar who was born in Babylon (60BC), and died in Jerusalem (AD10)

Shammai lived a little later. When Hillel died, Shammai took over the leadership of Sanhedrin. He died in AD30. We think he was alive during Jesus’ ministry.

Both Hillel and Shammai agreed that loving God was the greatest commandment. No one disagreed on that.

The second greatest commandment was where there was tension.

The house of Hillel felt that loving your neighbor was the second greatest and that it summarized the second half of the ten commandments (all of which are related to people).

The house of Shammai felt that keeping the Sabbath was the second greatest commandment since it was all about honoring God.

When you read the gospels, you will see this tension, especially regarding the Sabbath.

You will find that Jesus’ idea of “loving your neighbor” wasn’t new, He’s letting the people know that He agreed with Hillel on the matter.

If we go back to the passage in Luke 10, which “house” was this “lawyer” from? He’s from the House of Hillel.

John

Backround

The gospel of John was written by the apostle John.

His name means “Yahweh is gracious”

He was a fisherman by trade, not a scholar.

He was usually referred to in the other gospels along with his brother as “James and John the sons of Zebedee”

He never refers to himself by name in this gospel. When you see the name “John”, it will be talking about John the Baptist. John only refers to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”.

He had been one of the “inner three” of Jesus’ friends (Peter, James, and John)

He and his brother had a nickname, the “Sons of Thunder”, probably due to the time they asked Jesus if they could call down fire on the Samaritans (Luk 9:51-56)

In the book of Acts, John is known primarily as the sidekick to Peter.

At some point, he finally ends up at Ephesus, the city in Asia Minor.

The church of Ephesus was started by Paul. It was pastored later by Timothy. Sometime shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70), John arrives and leads the church. This is where John is when he writes his gospel and three letters (1-3 John)

When a heavy persecution arises against the church, he is taken and thrown into a pot of boiling oil. He came out okay, but the Twinkies in his pocket were deep fried.

Because the Romans don’t know what to do with a bulletproof apostle, he is banished to a desert island, Patmos, where he receives his “Revelation” (A.D. 95)

Later he is returned to Ephesus and there dies (around A.D. 98)

When did he write the gospel?

Somewhere between 85-90 AD. It was the last of the gospels to be written down.

Why did he write it?

One of the reasons for John’s gospel was to clear up a few things.

It’s been a good 20-30 years since the other gospels were written.

There have been some heresies beginning to develop from people who didn’t know Jesus.

One such fellow was named Cerinthus, who taught a form of Gnosticism, which made Jesus out to be much less than God.

This fellow taught that Yahweh of the Old Testament was not the creator, but a lesser god, a “demiurge” was the creator.

He taught that Jesus was just an ordinary human who had the “Christ spirit” come on Him.

He taught that “Christ” was a spirit that came upon Jesus at His baptism, and left Him at the cross. This is a teaching often taught today as well.

John lived at the time of Cerinthus. John detested Cerinthus.

There is an old historical tradition that he once fled a bathhouse when he found out Cerinthus was inside, yelling “Let us flee, lest the building fall down; for Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is inside!” (sounds like John had a sense of humor too)

John’s gospel has some of the clearest proofs of the deity of Christ.

John is going to fill in the blanks about Jesus.

The other gospels focus mainly on the last year of Christ’s ministry. It’s John that shows us events from Jesus’ three-year ministry.

Though some of the things he will talk about are things that we see in the other gospels, he will also tell some of the stories that the other gospels skipped.

Even more important, John will give us a little fuller idea of just why Jesus did what He did.

John wants you to believe:

(John 20:30–31 NKJV) —30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

John wants his readers to understand just who Jesus is.

John wants his readers to believe in Jesus and receive eternal life.

If you have friends who want to know more about Christianity, encourage them to read the Gospel of John!

The Jesus timeline

The gospels are not always too clear on when things took place. They don’t have dates attached.

So how long was Jesus’ ministry between His baptism and His death?

We believe it was about 3 ½ years, but you won’t find that number explicitly stated in any of the gospels.

You have to play detective, and it’s in the gospel of John that you find the answers.

You get there by counting the Passovers. (I won’t take time to go through these…)

(John 2:23 NASB 2020) Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name as they observed His signs which He was doing.

(John 5:1 NASB 2020) After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

It doesn’t say “Passover”, but that makes the most sense here.

(John 6:4 NASB 2020) Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.

(John 11:55 NASB 2020) Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country prior to the Passover, in order to purify themselves.

If there’s a year between each of these Passovers, and Jesus dies at the last one, then you have three and a half years.

Uniqueness of the book

Much of the book is unique, but a few standout stories that you won’t find in the other gospels are:

The Wedding at Cana (John 2)

Nicodemus: You must be born again (John 3)

The Woman of Samaria (John 4)

Healing at Bethesda (“Do you want to be healed?”) (John 5)

The Woman caught in Adultery (John 8) (Was it part of John’s text? Watch the Wallace video)

The Man born blind (John 9)

Raising Lazarus (John 11)

The Last Supper Discourse (John 13-16)

Peter restored in Galilee (John 21)

I want to shift gears for a minute and talk a little about the geography of Israel and how it ties to our understanding of Scripture.

Geography

I want to acquaint you with a cool free tool called Google Earth Pro. You can install it on your computer or use a web-based version.

You can download a free copy here –

https://www.google.com/earth/about/versions/

I will send you all my data file with all the places I’ve located.

Before I took my first trip to Israel, I’m not sure I had much of a clue as to how the land of Israel was laid out and connected.

Israel is not a large country.

From Dan in the north to Eilat in the south, the entire country, is about 250 miles, about the same as San Diego to Pismo Beach.

But most of the country that Jesus moved in would have been from Dan to Jerusalem, or about 100 miles, less than the distance between San Diego and LAX.

Play Video – Shechem history map

There’s a place in Israel that not too many Christian tourists have visited, a city right smack in the middle of the country. It’s the city of Shechem, known as “Nablus” today.

Abraham visited there.

(Genesis 12:6–7 NKJV) —6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

It’s where God promised to give the land to Abram (Abraham)

Later Jacob would settle there (Gen. 33) with his family, and when the prince of the city raped Jacob’s daughter Dinah, Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi killed all the men in revenge.

Jacob would also dig a well there.

Moses would tell Joshua to go to Mount Ebal and set up whitewashed stones with the Law written on them. (Deut. 27:4)

Mount Ebal overlooks Shechem.

Joshua would do this very thing (Josh. 8:32)

The people would pronounce the blessings and the curses from Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.

Joshua would bury the bones of Joseph at Shechem (Josh. 24:32)

Gideon had a son with a woman of Shechem, his name was Abimelech (Judges 8:31)

In Abimelech’s day there was a temple now in Shechem to the god “Baal-berith” or “El-berith” (Judges 8:33; 9:46)

Archaeologists have found this temple, and it was apparently built around the whitewashed stones on which Joshua had written the Law, the “covenant” (in Hebrew, berith)

Baal-berith means “Lord of the Covenant” and El-berith means “God of the Covenant”.

The people had taken God’s covenant and made a “god” out of it.

When the Samaritans came along and created their twisted form of Judaism, they built their temple on top of Mount Gerizim, which overlooks Shechem.

Skip forward to Jesus’ day, and the city of Shechem is now called Sychar, where Jesus decided to visit in John 4. It’s there He meets a woman at a well.

Look at John 4

The woman at the well

Play video: The Chosen 1.8 The woman at the well edit

It’s after this that the woman mentions that she knows Messiah was going to come …

(John 4:26 NASB 2020) Jesus said to her, “I am He, the One speaking to you.”

The “He” is in italics because it is not in the Greek text, but the translators thought it would make more sense to add it.

In Greek, Jesus is simply saying “I am”.

This is going to be another of John’s uniqueness – the great emphasis he places on the deity of Christ.

One of the ways he does this is through the Greek phrase Ἐγώ εἰμι, which translates into English as “I am”, or literally, “I, I am”

Why is this important?

It brings the Jewish reader back to an important section of the Old Testament, the burning bush, where God is calling Moses to deliver the Israelites:

(Exodus 3:13–14 NASB 2020) —13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” 14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, was most likely the translation that Jesus and His disciples were most familiar with.

The Greek phrase translated “I AM” is Ἐγώ εἰμι, and became known as a form of God’s name Yahweh.

Here’s how Exodus 3:14 reads in the Greek

(Exodus 3:14 Logos LXX) καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, καὶ εἶπεν Οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ Ὁ ὢν ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς.

This phrase Ἐγώ εἰμι in Greek became known as a form of God’s name Yahweh.

Lesson

Jesus is God

(This is the quiz question)

Several times in the Gospel of John where you will see Jesus using this phrase:

When the disciples are rowing in the storm and Jesus comes to them walking on the water, He says to them,

(John 6:20 NKJV) But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

Or in the Greek, “I am”

To the Jews who were questioning Him, He said,

(John 8:24 NKJV) Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

The italicized He is not in the Greek text. It was added by the translators.

Unless you believe that Jesus is Yahweh, you will die in your sins.

I would encourage you to look up the other references as well – John 8:28, 58; John 13:19; John 18:5; John 18:8.

At one point the Jews try to stone Jesus because they knew what He was saying.

(John 8:28 NKJV) Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.

(John 8:58–59 NKJV) —58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

The Jews knew what He meant. They tried to stone Him for it.

(John 13:19 NKJV) Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He.

(John 18:4–6 NKJV) —4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” 5 They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. 6 Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

It was so powerful when Jesus said “I AM”, that the soldiers all fell backward.

(John 18:8 NKJV) Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,”

This list doesn’t include the references where Jesus includes the “predicate nominative”, as if we might ask, “You are what??” (these are in my notes). There are seven of these:

(John 6:48 NKJV) I am the bread of life.

(John 8:12 NKJV) Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

(John 10:9 NKJV) I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

(John 10:11 NKJV) “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

(John 11:25 NKJV) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

(John 14:6 NKJV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

(John 15:1 NKJV) “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

I’ve heard it said that Jesus is whatever you truly need.

Are you spiritually hungry? He is the bread of life?

Are you struggling with darkness? He is the light of the world.

Do you need direction? He is the “door”.

Do you need protection? He is the good shepherd

Are you afraid of death? He is the resurrection

Significant verse(s)

(John 7:37–39 NASB 2020) —37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39 But this He said in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.